Family Ties
by Amori Kyle
Summary: Takes place in my AU universe. Imagine that the X-men Evolution tv show has been going for six years. it's the only thought any one has ever had of the X-men. imagine that all of Scott's reletives aren't dead, and one of them is closer than anyone thinks
1. Default Chapter

A/n: this is a big AU. In this story the X-men comics and old television shows never existed. The only idea of X-men anyone has ever seen is X-men: Evolution and the comics following it, which in this world has been going strong for six years. The government doesn't know and only about ten out of every one million people on earth know, but, unfortunately for the X-men that numbers about to get a lot bigger. Please R/R. (oh, yeah, I'm also introducing Gambit somewhere)  
  
Disclaimer: Scott, Evan, Kurt, Remy, Xavier, Ororo, Logan and all those other Uncanny X-men that I mention belong to the wonderful people at Marvel and Stan Lee. Amori, Lara, Hannah, Daniel and all the other minor characters I make up belong to me. If you want to use them you're welcome to, just let me know first.  
  
Chapter One: Introductions  
  
Scott Summers is my best friend. Scott Summers is also the guy my sister Lara is obsessed with because it's the name of a character on X-men: Evolution. I say coincidence. I don't care if the show happens to take place in our town of Bayville, or if sure Scott looks slightly like the Scott on the show. It's a cartoon for god's sake, and this is real life. My theory is that the producers of the show came up to this little town, spotted Scott and decided to model the cartoon Scott off him. After hearing this argument my sister will them ask, 'Well then Amorise, why is his name the same? It's just to strange.' I tell her that it's just a coincidence and that she has to except that. My sister has no sense of reason. Ok, I will admit that Scott does wear red-lensed sunglasses. At first I thought he was just humoring Kendra, but he wears them to school too, so that theory went out the window. He says his eyes are sensitive to light and lenses dampen it. I accept this. He's never lied to me.  
  
We get a good laugh every Saturday morning watching X-men with my sister. She sits on the smaller couch staring suspiciously at Scott while we sit on the floor together. Sometimes Lara tries to catch Scott off guard and reaches out to yank off his glasses. My rabid sister expects red lasers to shoot out. What usually happens is I yell at her and she's relatively quiet for the rest of the half hour.  
  
I met Scott in seventh grade at Jackson Junior High. He'd just moved from an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska, and I'd just moved from Chicago. Both being new, and not knowing many people (well I knew my new sorta step sister Hannah, but she pretended not to know me) we hit it off. It's weird that we did, we're not anything alike. He's cautious, fair tempered, calm, accepts the weird, and pretty optimistic. I'm wild, have a tendency to ignore the weird and create my own explanations, short tempered, and I don't have a great outlook on life. He listens to R.E.M, I still listen to Run DMC. He's sweet, I can get evil. We bring out the best in each other. Our relationship is simply platonic, just friends. I can't imagine Scott and I dating, it just seems wrong.  
  
The only thing we have in common is our sort of screwy families. Scott's parents are dead. They died in a plane crash in Alaska. He doesn't live with relatives in Bayville; he lives in a mansion owned by a professor. My parents split up in a rather nasty divorce. My father wanted custody of both Lara and me. Mom wasn't going to let that happen. See, my dads a guy who's to absorbed in his job to pay attention to anything unless it's hitting mom. Wonderful right? After a long battle mom finally got legal permission to take Lara and I to Bayville and never see our father again. But there was one thing mom hadn't told her daughters. She was moving in with a guy as soon as we got to Bayville. His name was Daniel Lance, and he had a daughter exactly my age named Hannah- secretly known by me as 'Worlds Slutiest Girl'. We hated each other right off the bat. Things got worse when Scott and I became friends. All Hannah's friends though he was unbearably cute, and got very upset when we started hanging out together. I explained to Hannah that we were not dating, but she, like Lara, has no sense of reason. In the end I stopped talking to her and stuck around with Scott more.  
  
I don't think much of her father much either. Mostly it's just because he likes to brag; he brags about his job, our money, his father, his mother and anything else he can think of. Then there's the fact that he doesn't like Scott. It's the whole sunglasses thing. I'd like to tell Daniel to keep his opinions to himself, but I don't because I've seen the looks of love mom gives him and if she's happy then I figure I can at least try. When we first moved in with them he made the mistake of trying to toss Lara's comics, because according to him the whole prospect of fantasy is preposterous. 'They'll rot your brain' he said one day in disgust. ' Read your textbooks instead'. Lara is a black belt in Judo and tae-kwan-do. Daniel almost ended up with a broken nose (Lara 'mistook' him for a burglar). He learned his lesson about getting between Lara and fantasy that day.  
  
We live on the richer side of town in a large house. Not mansion type, but nice. When we moved in I chose the attic room for its high ceiling. I have two beds, one on each side of the room. In one corner I have a ladder going up to the ceiling. When I get to the top of the ladder I have to jump from it onto the hammock below the skylight. Next to the hammock there's a trapeze that I use to get down from the ceiling. Mom doesn't like me jumping from the hammock back to the ladder. The absolute best thing about the room though, is that it has a lock. This is where Scott and I can do most of our studying with out interruption. Not that mom and Daniel think we're studying of course. But we are, with out Scott I'd be failing French and History.  
  
"Jouer means to…" Scott prompted me from the floor.  
  
I groaned, racking my brain for the answer. "Should I know this?"  
  
"The test is tomorrow." He reminded me. "So?"  
  
"Answer please." I said. The comfortable position in my hammock was lulling me to sleep.  
  
"Read the book." Said Scott. He looked up at me, rolling his eyes. I reached up to the skylight ledge and grabbed the remote for my CD player. I couldn't stand anymore French verbs. When I clicked the play button the sounds of *NSYNC blasted out at us.  
  
"Hannah's been in here. I'm going to kill her." I said as Scott reached over and flipped the switch for the radio.  
  
"You have a really short attention span, and incredibly bad focus." Scott flipped the French book over to my bed. "Watch, you're going to be studying tomorrow in home room and you'll end up with a C on the test. Then Daniel will ground you, and we won't be able to hang for like a month."  
  
"You know me all to well." I said dryly. The music on the radio did nothing to encourage me to study "I wish I still had my mixed rap CD."  
  
"Daniel stepped on it." He pointed out.  
  
"I know but," I shifted reaching behind my back where something was jabbing me. My hand clasped onto a CD. "Hey this is the one I lent Evan."  
  
"Rap mix?"  
  
I fingered it. "Yeah. Oh, well I must've forgotten to give it to him."  
  
"Uh, I saw you give it to him at lunch Amori." Scott raised an eyebrow, almost grinning.  
  
Like I said before, I can turn my head at the weird and make up an explanation. I do this because whenever I used to see the scars on my moms face I needed a reason, and I wasn't ready yet to accept the fact that my dad did it. So I'd say she fell, or cut her self by accident. This habit has stayed with me through life. Anything I don't like just isn't true. So that's what I did with this.  
  
"I probably forgot." I said, a little more forcefully than I had to.  
  
I failed my French test and got majorly grounded; also got the whole 'boys in my room' privilege taken away too. Grounded in this house means you stay in your room anytime when you're not in school. Grounded for me means I sneak out and go boarding and skating with Evan Daniels after school and on weekends. I can't hang with Scott because that's who Mom and Daniel look for when I leave, they don't know Evan. Evan and I use the handrails at the old town hall to board. Then sometimes we head down to the old alleys. All I have to do is get back home by six in the evening and no one will miss me.  
  
"So," Evan circled around me as I laced up my blades. "Have you and Scott started dating yet."  
  
"Yeah right." I rolled my eyes. "You know good and well we don't want to. Besides even if we did want to my mom wouldn't let us."  
  
"The whole look a like thing?" He referred to the fact that Scott and I look almost like identical twins. It's just our faces. Same noses, eyes (ok, area around the eyes), ears and mouths. Our hair is the same shade too. In skin tone I'm a slightly darker than him because my fathers mother was African American.  
  
"Maybe." I shrugged. "She really likes him and everything, it's Daniel who hates him, but she just really doesn't want us dating. She said it wouldn't feel right to her"  
  
Evan gave a skeptical look, and then grinned. I finished tying my skate, and we were off.  
  
"I told them where you were." Hannah's voice greeted me as I climbed through the dining room window. There she was lounging on the couch in the other room. Mom and Daniel were standing next to her, arms folded and glairing. Hannah was just like my mother, I could never sneak out with out them knowing and I could never get a lie past them, so now I was soooo, busted. And this would probably be worse than the time I snuck into an NC- 17 movie, and that was bad.  
  
"Amorise Alexis Kyle, get in here." Said Daniel. I walked towards the room wondering what the hell gave him the right to call me by my whole name.  
  
"Spare me the drama. I know I snuck out." I directed my words to him. "Punish me or whatever, I'll still sneak out."  
  
"I forbid you to see that Summers kid again."  
  
'Wouldn't an anvil be nice right about now?' I thought. I glared at mom and Daniel. Behind Daniel's feet sat an anvil. It took a lot for me not to make an ass of myself by fainting in shock. Mom noticed my stared shift places and she turned her head slightly to look behind her husband's feet. Her face turned a nice shade of white.  
  
"Daniel, I think forbidding her to see Scott is a little extreme." Mom said calmly, staring at me. "He's one of her best friends."  
  
"Yes, but he's…"  
  
"Hannah, Amori go upstairs to your rooms, now." She said again, still calm and collected.  
  
For once Hannah looked scared. I relished the look before picking up my blades and my skateboard. Hannah fell into step with me as we turned towards the stairs. She grabbed my wrist and jerked me to look at her.  
  
"Your mom better not try and defend you, or I'll get you. You hear?" she tried to sound menacing.  
  
I simply brushed her off with a shake of my hand and ignored her. Hannah followed at my heels past her room, past Lara's and to mine. She sat in front of the door scowling even as I locked it behind me. I tossed my gear onto the hard wood floor and sat down on my bed. No audible sounds came from downstairs as I strained to hear. They'd either moved or were talking in whispers. I sighed and looked up to my hammock. There sat Lara, her chest was slowly rising and falling and her eyes were closed. Asleep, in a cat like position. I wondered what she'd gone through today, she never falls asleep until about one in the morning. Then there was the question of why she was in here in the first place and not in her own room.  
  
The voices down stairs were getting louder. It sounded like a huge argument had broken out. There was a crash, probably a lamp. Next were loud footsteps storming up towards my room.  
  
"Get out here." Daniel's voice shouted through my door. His fists began pounding. Against my better judgment I stood up and walked to the door with the key in my hand. I'd barely opened the door two inches when he stormed in, hitting me in the face with the door. If looks could kill I'd have been dead. From above me I heard Lara groan and mumble about being woken up.  
  
"I want you and your freak sister out of this house now." He said, almost growling. "I don't want my wife and daughter exposed to you two anymore."  
  
"What the hell? We live here." Said Lara, using the trapeze to come down.  
  
His eyes blazed, and he grabbed the both of us by our arms. I tried to break free but he held on tightly as he dragged us down the stairs. Hannah was standing in the hall as we passed with a smirk on her face. If I could've I'd have busted her nose in a split second. We reached the first floor and the front door. Daniel opened it and placed us on the porch.  
  
"You have thirty seconds to get off my property." His hand reached up his sleeve. Never before had I seen a person this close to me with a gun. I shook, looking past him into the living room. Where was our mother? I saw the anvil sitting on the floor where it had been before. This whole thing was just wrong.  
  
"Amori, c'mon." Lara tugged on my sleeve whimpering. I let her guide me down the steps to the street.  
  
*~*~* 


	2. Saviors and Discoveries

Chapter Two: Saviors and Discoveries

I realized, upon hearing Lara close to tears, that I was going to have to play the big sister. Older and more responsible; Lara looked to me as if she just expected it out right. She was after all only twelve. I didn't want to tell her that I couldn't deal, even though she should have been able to tell from the look on my face. The first thing I did was move away from the house, which now seemed to be the worst place on Earth. Daniel had said something about needing to protect mom. Had she helped him with this? I hadn't seen her while we were being tossed out. But I couldn't imagine my mother doing this to us, and then of course I couldn't have imagined Daniel doing it either. Anything's possible.

'Think Amorise' I coached myself while clutching hard to Lara's hand. We have nothing. We're poor and homeless. Not a great basis for a plan. I didn't exactly fancy calling my father, my grandparents lived in St. Louis, and Lara and I had no other relatives that we knew about. Lara's best friend was out of town, and my friends…well my best friend has a car, a driver's license, a cell phone, and a beeper. Scott might be able to help with this one. A plan started to form. I had about one thousand dollars in my savings account. If we could get to the bank before Daniel closed my accounts (as I feared he would) I could get the money and have Scott drive Lara and me to the holiday inn on the outskirts. We could stay there for a night then make our way down to our grandparents in St. Louis. It sounds a little far fetched, but a girl can dream. 

I led Lara down the to street corner by the bus stop. There stood one lone pay phone; our savior. Scott's cell didn't take collect calls so I dialed collect and his private number at mansion and prayed he was home. Lara didn't say a word, just sniffled in the breeze. It was cold and we didn't have coats.

"Hello?" Scott's voice greeted me and I sighed with total relief.

"Scott," I said trying to keep the all out terror I was feeling low inside me out of my voice. "I'm at the corner of Elm and Harper at the bus stop with Lara. Can you get over here _now_?"

"Amori? What's the matter?" He was coming despite the questions; I heard the jingle of keys in the background. 

"Daniel threw us out." I said, letting the well of emotion come through.

"He what?" 

"We don't know why, but we're out here with no where in hell to go. I was wondering if you could drive us to the bank then to the Holliday Inn."

"Yeah right." He said firmly. "You and Lara can stay here. I'll be right there." The phone clicked leaving me with a dial tone.

Lara turned large eyes at me. "What did Scott say?"

"He'll be here in a few minutes." I hugged my sister reassuringly. She buried her face in my hair using it almost as a tissue. We were probably an odd site to any of the neighbors who happened to peek out between their shades. If this all hadn't been so real to me I'd have been able to create an explanation for it too. But this…this is just too extreme. When this is over I'm going to have to reevaluate reality.

Lara picked her head up from my shoulder and looked straight into approaching headlights. Scott's red convertible had never looked so good. When Lara and I slipped into the car I broke down in Scott's arms. I cried silently for five minutes while Scott embraced me. Finally I let go and allowed him to drive off down the road at a speed that would've gotten him arrested on any major highway. 

"So he threw you out?" Scott said, breeching the silence.

"He dragged us out of the house, down the stairs, and out the door." Answered Lara tonelessly.

"What about your mom and Hannah?" he asked.

"Didn't see mom any where." I shook my head. "I don't know where she is. And Hannah, let's just say she even more of a bitch then I thought."

Scott nodded, taking a sharp turn off the main road onto a slope. I could see the mansion about a mile up looking just as big and welcoming as ever. I'd been here before tonight, but Lara never had. She blanched first, and then stared in awe at the grounds. 

                "Charles is lookin' for y' Shades." As we entered the mansion I heard Logan's rough voice from the stairs.

"Hey Logan." I tossed up a brief greeting. 

"Amori." he grunted in return and turned back up the stairs. 

Lara was already trailing behind Scott down the hall. I caught up as Scott opened a door. It was Professor Xavier's study. As I walked inside I saw Lara's mouth gaping open in surprise. The professor was there along with an African woman I hadn't seen at the mansion before. Sensing what Lara was about to say I put a firm hand on her shoulder; a sign to keep quiet. Seeing this, Scott passed me a slight grin before speaking.

"Amori and Lara's step-father threw them out of their house. I was wondering if they could stay here, just for awhile." discreetness has never been one of Scott's strong points.

"Ororo would you take Lara up to one of the spare rooms please?" Xavier asked the woman standing next to him. She walked forward and smiled at Lara. Lara gave me another look before walking out of the room next to Ororo. I understood what Lara was trying to tell me. Her eyes were screaming 'reality check'. I was begging to agree that the connection with X-men: Evolution was too much. You don't meet many people named Ororo.

"Amorise, please sit. You as well Scott." The professor gestured to the seats in front of his desk. "I'm sorry to hear what happened Amorise. Do you have any idea why your step-father would do this?"

I shook my head mutely. The fact that I couldn't find a reason was bothering me even more. Daniel had never shown violent tendencies towards Lara and I, and he had never seemed insane. And I still didn't know where mom was. The fact that I wasn't hysterical amazed me as well.

"Your mother had no part in this?"

"I don't think so." I didn't stop to ask how he knew that. "I went out with Evan this afternoon, and when I got back I was in trouble. Mom sent Hannah and I to our rooms so she could talk to Daniel and a few minutes later he came up and dragged us out of the house."

"There was nothing else?" He asked.

The anvil. "Nothing." I lied

Scott looked at me and gave me a look with a raised eyebrow that disappeared into his hair. I shrugged slightly telling him to back off. He did but gave me one last scowl. Xavier watched this with interest before smiling and folding his hands together. He paused for a second before speaking

"Amorise," he said finally; slowly. "Your sisters assumptions are correct."

"Her what?" Now I was the one with the raised eyebrow.

Scott turned to me grinning wryly. "Lara was right. Mutants are real." Like I said, no talent for subtleness what so ever.

"Whoa. Excuse me?" I almost jumped out of the chair in shock. Reality had just shifted another few miles away from my sense of the norm. "Did you say, mutants are real, as in comic mutants and television…"

"Yeah, all that stuff." Scott nodded. "You're in Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters."

The professor nodded confirming it all. He motioned for Scott to quiet and he spoke again. "Amorise I realized this must be a lot to take in and I'll explain more tomorrow but there are two more things I'd like you to know tonight. Amorise, you are a mutant yourself-"

"WHAT!" I yelled, sending my pulse up to three hundred.

"You are a mutant as well as your sister and I think your mother. I have information on your mother. Her name right now is Naomi Rayner, am I right?"

"Yes, that was my fathers last name. She kept it after she divorced him." Managing to get words, let alone sentences, out of my mouth was hard work. 

"Her maiden name was Baron. Her sister was Katherine Baron, Scott's mother."  Scott sat rigid in his chair staring at me.

"Oh my god." We both murmured.

"How did you-" I started, but Xavier put his hand up stopping me

"The time in eighth grade when you cut your arm in the pool. After Logan cleaned it for you he put the blood in the computer to check for infections. The computer showed a match to Scott's, it was almost direct so we checked into it. This is what we discovered."

"Mom always said she didn't want us dating" The reason for that statement dawned on me. She didn't want us dating because we were cousins. She knew, but hadn't told us.

"It's why we look so much alike." Scott ran his fingers through his hair; I did the same, blushing. I knew we looked alike but I hadn't thought this was the reason behind it. "Your mom knew didn't she?"

"I think she did. She only mentioned her sister once. They didn't like each other. Katherine was mad because my mom married young, and my mom thought Katherine was an army brat, because she married a general." That's what mom had said when I was five and asked why I didn't have aunts or uncles. "And as kids they were always jealous of each other."

"Scott," The professor interrupted. "I'd like you to take Amorise up to her room."

"Right." Said Scott slowly. 

On instinct I reached under my seat grabbing the air for a bag and sighed when I remembered that I didn't have one.

*~*~*


	3. Drugs, Juvy, and Remy

Chapter Three: Juvy, Drugs and Remy

I turned from my locker to face a kid I barely knew. Not even his name came to mind. "Doing drugs, eh Amori?"

"Obviously you've been listening to Hannah." I muttered, sidestepping to get around him. "Unlike you, I try to stay away from them."

"So you ran away then?" He asked. Obviously this wasn't going to stop.

"Whatever." I said. "I don't know who you are, but could you go bother a freshman or something?"

The kid shrugged and turned away. I gave him a not so nice hand gesture behind his back and headed towards the cafeteria. 

News travels very fast in Bayville High, I was only gone for six days and the whole school knew that my sister and I'd left Hannah's place. They just didn't know why. There were the ever-famous drug/juvenile delinquent stories and the lesser 'Hannah and I weren't getting along so I ran away and dragged my little sister along with me'. Whenever someone asked I usually chose to go with the later. The funny thing was I'd yet to see Hannah. I had a very clear feeling that she might be avoiding me. And for good reason. I had this very detailed little plot in my head about how I was going to dismember her limb for limb for spreading all the drug and juvy rumors. 

I'd been willing to face school the day after everything happened but Lara wasn't, so I stayed at the mansion with her trying to play the coveted role of big sister. It took a lot for me to get her out today so I could go back. Taking the days off wasn't all bad though. With Professor Xavier's help I figured out the basics of my powers. There not that complicated. It's a form of teleportation that allows me to latch onto things that might not be in my reach and bring them to me. The anvil came from in town where they're scrapping the old theater.

                Out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar red streaked head. Lunch was immediately forgotten. I turned back toward the girl room where I saw Hannah heading. She stopped to look her nails over with her friends giving me the five seconds I needed to get in before her. 

Our bathrooms are pretty good. We've got good mirrors; they're not all graffitted on, and we've got plush red couches. These couches are perfect for sitting on and scaring people- especially if you choose the one right by the door, like I did. So as Hannah and her gang walked in, I sat there cross-legged looking perfectly innocent with a smile on my face staring at her. She had a delayed reaction upon seeing me. First she started, then her chin did this kind of quivery thing, and her eyes bulged. A camera would have been nice.

"What…" she said, startled. "What're you doing here?"

"Nature Called, I answered." I shrugged doing my best to look nonchalant while lowering my dismemberment plan a few notches to just a good punch in the nose. "So Hannah. I was wondering, why did I leave your house? Drugs? Juvy?"

Hannah didn't answer. She chewed her lip and didn't look directly at me.

"Well?" I asked.

Sill nothing, and my patience was wearing. I'd just realized that I was actually hungry and only had fifteen minutes of lunch left.

"I didn't want to…" she trailed off mumbling.

I got up off the couch and scowled at her. That bare shin of hers looked incredibly tempting, and I _was_ wearing a pair of Rogue's Doc Martens. I swung my foot back and hit it her leg then pushed her down onto the couch.

"Stop the rumors, and leave me alone. Got it?"

I stalked out of the bathroom with out waiting for a response. One was not needed. I felt that the message had gotten through quite clearly.

*~*~*

If you've got at least one fourth of a brain you can be a student assistant at Bayville High. It's a good way to get extra credits, and it's easy enough. The job basically includes making copies for teachers, putting things in mailboxes and giving tours of the building to new students. I'm usually very willing to do my job (I really need that extra credit) but I wasn't in a great mood after my little talk with Hannah. I'd only been able to scarf an apple down in the lunchroom, because the powers that be had decided to cut ten minutes of our lunchtime for an extended senior related arts period.

Our guidance consular, Miss Sulez, gave me a pinched faced look as I entered her office with a scowl. Immediately I thought of my C in French and put on a nice bright smile, but I was still wondering why they couldn't have called someone else down to work. As soon as my frown disappeared Miss Sulez smiled and gestured for me to sit down in front of her desk.

"Amorise, thanks for coming. You're the only assistant with a free this period." She handed me a note written on half a sheet of paper. "We have a new student- he's with Principal Kelly right now- I need you to show him around. His classes and everything I mean."

'Miss Sulez is not the most organized person' I reminded myself I tried to read the kids schedule, which was scrawled all over the page. "Do you have this on the computer?" I asked.

She took the note back from me. "Oh, this is for something else… here."

The printed sheet she gave me was much easier to read then what ever the other thing was. I looked on the top for the kids' name. 

"Remy LeBeau, he's a senior." His schedule was almost identical to mine. I murmured to myself I read down the sheet.

The door to the small office opened and Principal Kelly walked in accompanied with whom I assumed was Remy. Assumed? Scratch that…the word is hoped, prayed even. The guy was drop dead gorgeous. 

"This is Remy LeBeau, Miss Kyle." Said Principal Kelly.

'There is a god!' I thought to myself. 'Thank you, thank you!' "Hi I'm Amori." I held out my hand. "Welcome to Bayville." Ok, that was so corny, but I was quite tongue tied at the moment. All I could think of was that perfectly formed mouth.

"Amorise, you should use this period to show him his classes." Said Ms. Sulez.

"Sure." I turned to Remy. "Follow me."

Principal Kelly and Miss. Sulez eyed us carefully as we walked out. Miss. Sulez had a 'If she's trying to hide a crush it's just not working' look on her face, while Principal Kelly was just staring hard. Glaring might have even been the word. It was a hard stare I could feel boring into my shoulder blades. I walked quickly, leading Remy out of the office vicinity. Once we got around the cafeteria I stopped casting a look both over my shoulder and at Remy. It was amazing how those black jeans looked painted on.

"So where're you from?" I asked.

"New Orleans; around 'dere." He said. That accent was a definite plus. "I'm stayin' at Xavier's School."

I swung around. "Oh you are. My sister and I just got there a few days ago. Have you met all the others?"

"Most," He grinned lopsidedly, changing the subject. "'Dat Principal. He always be lookin' at 'is students like 'dat?"

"Luckily I don't spend enough time with him to know." I shrugged and picked up the pace down the hall. "There's your first period class." 

The rest of the tour consisted of long flights of stairs and mild small talk. He told me a little about himself but not too much. I got the impression though, that a lot of his life hadn't been too great. I found myself telling him a lot about the past few days and what had happened to my sister and me. There was something about him that just made me want to talk. I was also feeling somewhat happier than I had been earlier. 

The hour went quickly and the bell for eighth period rang through the halls startling the both of us. Remy's schedule said art same as mine so we walked to the class together. The good feelings I had shed off like a winter coat when I entered the art room. Art was yet another class I was just about failing. I sat down at my usual table with Jean Grey. The teacher, Ms. Jameson, passed by as Remy sat down next to me. She marked his name in her attendance book and gave him a heap of clay like she gave the rest of us.

"Torture." I muttered looking at my deformed sculpture sometime later. "It's some new form of torture for those of us who can't paint, draw, and sculpt. This is so boring."

Jean sighed, poking her clay soccer player whose arm had just fallen off. "At least yours in intact."

I turned to Remy who hadn't made anything with his clay. Instead he'd rolled it into several tiny balls. 

"Who's 'dat?" He asked Jean and I; He was pointing to Hannah.

I gave a snort. "My former step-sister. Why?"

Remy toyed with one of the clay balls in his hand. A few seconds later I noticed a faint glow around it. Using his thumb, he flicked it over to Hannah's table. They didn't notice as it landed in the block of clay in the middle of the table. 

"What was that?" I whispered.

"_That_ was not a good idea." Answered Jean. "Get ready for some screams."

As soon as she said that there was a small boom and all the girls at Hannah's table screamed. There was clay all over them. In their hair and on their clothes. I looked at Remy who simply grinned, ducked his head, and mashed all of his clay balls back into one big lump. 

"Nice." I said, raising my eyebrows. "Very nice." Jean glared and rolled her eyes at the both of us, muttering something about us being the death of her. I always tell her she needs to lighten up.

I decided, after art, that not only was Remy cute, he was also pretty cool. Remy walked with me out of art class to the front doors of Bayville. I was heading over to Scott's car as I usually did, but I heard Remy's voice call me back.

"Chère, you want a ride?"

I turned back, intrigued. "You got wheels?"

"Two."

"Motorcycle? Cool." I followed him over to the parking lot, where I spotted a sleek, black Harley. Remy was already swinging his legs over the bike when I reached it. 

"Remy ain't have a spare helmet," He said as he tossed me one. "But he don't need one. Climb on 'de back and hold on t' my waist. Tight."

I followed his instructions and soon we were zooming out of the lot. The stunned look on Scott's face when he saw me on the bike was priceless. I don't think I'll ever forget it.

*~*~*


	4. Out of the frying pan and into the sligh...

Chapter Four: Out of the Frying Pan and Into The Slightly Hotter Oven

I finished my homework that night an hour before dinner. I realized then I had nothing to do. I was due in the danger room after dinner. Scott was out in the garage. Lara was with Kitty, and Remy was with Logan. I stared at the ceiling thinking for about fifteen minutes before I realized that, yes there was something I could be doing. Something that I'd put since arriving at the institute, and for good reason. I turned around in my chair and picked up the phone on my desk. I dialed slowly, but quickly enough so that I wouldn't loose my nerve, and hoped that the right person would pick up.

"Hello?" It was the voice I wanted to hear. That of my mothers.

"Mom!" I almost yelled, but kept my voice steady. "Mom, it's me Amorise."

"Amori," she said softly. Her voice sounded almost ragged with relief. "Oh god. I didn't know where you were until today. I heard 

Hannah tell Daniel you were staying at Xavier's and I…"

"Why're you still there?" I asked quietly. "You should come here."

"No." she said plainly. "Tell me, are you- are you ok? I'll just assume you know everything."

I nodded. "Yeah. Mom you should've told us. Scott and me I mean. He deserved to know. We both did really. It would've explained a lot." 

She paused. On the other line I could hear footsteps and voices. "I'm glad you're at Xavier's. I-I'm leaving Daniel's, but I'm not coming there."

"Where're you going?" I asked urgently

"Your grandparents. In St. Louis." She sighed. "Amorise you have to understand, I just feel I have to get out of this town. But before I go I need to know that you, Lara, and Scott are ok."

"W-We are." I stammered. "Are you coming back?"

"Of course." She said in a would-be reassuring voice. "I wouldn't leave the three of you forever."

"Right." I said dully.

She went on, her voice hurried. "I'll bring your things over to the mansion before I leave. Tomorrow okay? We can see each other before I leave. Tell Lara for me."

"We'll be here." My voice had almost no emotion. She was leaving. Part of me seriously wanted to hit her, but the other part understood. She was trying to get away from a guy worse than my natural father. She had to leave.

"Amori I have to do this. And besides my usefulness in Bayville is over. My purpose was to have you and Scott meet and be friends. Stick close to him, Lara and Alex Amori; rough times for mutants are coming. Remember, I love you." She said, and as the voices in the background got louder I received a click then a dial tone.

I bit my bottom lip as I started to cry. 'Damn phone' I thought throwing it against the wall and blinking back tears. Why wouldn't she come here? I understood the whole 'I have to get of Daniel's house' thing, but why did she have to skip town? I was safe at the mansion so far. I hadn't even seen Daniel. Why wouldn't it be the same for her? There was probably some other reason, I decided. Not that I could think of one good enough. I looked around for something else to throw. There wasn't much so I grabbed my pillow and started beating it as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Amori?" I heard Scott's voice at my door. Of course here he was to play my knight in shining armor. Was I in the mood for this? Yes, I decided I was. I wanted some sympathy, and ear to talk to, and maybe some cuddling, and he'd give all of that.

"She's skipping town." I choked out as he came to sit next to me.

"Who?" 

"My mom; your aunt. She's going to my dad's parents in St. Louis. She says she has to get out of Bayville." I looked up, wiping tears away from my eyes.

"S'okay" He sighed, hugging me. "Amori you know she loves you and Lara. Leaving might be all for the best."

"But why won't she come here? That's what I wanna know." I rested my head on his shoulder, a position used by the both of us when we're upset.

"I don't know." Scott said. "Maybe she feels safer farther away."

"Maybe." I said, sniffling. A sudden though sprang to mind. "Mom said stick close to you and Alex. Scott, who's Alex?"

"My little brother." It was Scott's turn to look wistful. "He lives in Hawaii."

"Another cousin." I blinked back more tears thinking about how my family was spread out halfway across the country. A mom going to St. Louis, a father in Chicago, and a cousin Hawaii. Wonderful. Just great. "Am I ever gonna meet him?"

"Yeah you will." He assured me, and then looked at his watch. "Y'know I came up here to tell you that dinner's ready."

"Oh wonderful." I looked at myself in the mirror across the room. My eyes were red and puffy from crying, and I had black streaks of mascara running down my cheeks. "I'll be down in a few minutes. I need to clean up."

"I'll see you down there then." He headed for the door, but then as he was about to walk to the hallway he stopped. "Amori, why'd your mom tell you to stick close to us?"

"Sh-she said bad times are coming for mutants." I repeated the ominous words. "I think she's a telepath or a physic. I never could get a lie past her."

Scott the just nodded in silence and walked out of the room. I watched him go before moving towards my bathroom, thinking maybe I shouldn't have told him. 

*~*~*

My powers, as I found out in the Danger Room later, weren't as simple to use as I thought. Professor Xavier had a simple experiment planned out. There was a line of weapons in the control room and if I was going to survive I had to use my powers to get these weapons. Turns out my powers only respond to very specific thoughts. I knew there was a staff in the control room I could use to block Evan's spikes, so I thought wooden staff and opened my hand for it. Instead of the staff a gnarled old stick from outside appeared in a wisp of smoke. It was quite a few tries before I actually got the staff I wanted. The professor decided the first thing we'd work on was my focus. Scott went into uncontrollable laughter when Xavier said this. Okay, so Scott's studied with me one too many times.

They put Logan in next telling him to be gentle. I decided I'd try something smaller this time, like the knife. I didn't try getting it at first. I waited till I was behind him and in a good spot to get the knife to his throat. It took awhile but I finally was able to pin him down. I focused on the knife remembering its shape, color and blade. I felt something in my hand and I grinned triumphantly. Until I saw what it was. A white plastic knife, probably from the kitchen. Logan saw this and took the opportunity to roll over, in turn pinning me to the floor. I groaned.

This wasn't going to be easy.

*~*~*

"He's just so like…" Kitty paused mid-sentence. "Oh, I d'know, relaxed with you. Like yesterday in the Danger Room. He laughed. Scott does not laugh in the Danger Room. I mean, what is it with you two?"

I smiled a bit at the younger girl. Scott, Lara, and I had chosen not yet to inform the rest of the people in the mansion of our relation. All they knew is that we'd been friends since he got here. "We're just really close. That's all." It wasn't a lie.

Kitty nodded. "I'm like not complaining. Trust me on that one. He's been totally tuning down the strictness with the rest of us too. Do you two, like date?"

"Defiantly not." I said firmly. Then adding quietly. "Unless you like incest."

"Incest…" She started, making a face. But our conversation was interrupted by a yell coming from the main foyer.

"Mom!" Lara's yell was full of excitement 

I said a rushed goodbye to Kitty and hurried out to the front hall. The Professor, Scott, Mom and Lara were there along with three suitcases. Lara was clinging tightly to mom asking over and over why she was leaving. I walked in quietly, almost shyly. I was afraid of breaking down again once she left. No one noticed me before I spoke up. Mom, then, swooped me into a hug and held me for quite awhile before letting go. When I was released she just looked at us kids for a second before speaking.

"We have to talk. All of us."

"Yes," said Xavier seriously, his hands clasped in his lap. "Yes, we'll use my study."

And the professor wheeled around down the hall with mom at his side. Scott, Lara and I stared at each other, all wondering what we had to talk about. Though I thought maybe it had to do with her message the other night. Rough times are coming for mutants. Scott caught my eye, and I could tell he had deducted the same thing. 

"Well this should be interesting." I said. 

The door to Xavier's study was slightly ajar, and it creaked as the three of us entered. Mom and Xavier were not alone. Logan and Ororo had joined them and were all sitting, discussing things in a most staid tone. We entered taking seats on a plush chair near the professors desk (well actually Scott and I sort of leaned on the arms. Lara sat.) It was minutes before anyone addressed us.

"Amori." Xavier said at last. "It might interest you to know that your mother is a telepath like myself. But in addition to that she can also see things that are going to happen in the future. Not very far, but far enough to tell us…Naomi, would you?"

Mom sighed. "I've been having some disturbing visions for awhile. I ignore most of what I see but these were too intense. The first one involved the government voting on something called the Mutant Registration Act. It had the senate in a stale mate, because they couldn't decide. The next one was much worse. I saw large, I think rust colored robots hunting mutants down and that campaign was being supported in large by a man named Edward Kelly."

Scott and I dropped our jaws. "Excuse me?' we both uttered, almost speechless.

"Yes I know." Mom glanced towards us. "The principal of your school. Correct?"

"How d' you know this is all real? Maybe its just dreams." Logan paced back and forth in front of the desk. 

"I've never predicted anything wrong before." She wasn't boasting. It was just a statement. "It was my powers that brought us here in the first place.  I knew my nephew would be in Bayville, so that's where I took my girls."

"I knew she knew." I muttered to Lara and Scott.

Lara nodded. "But not many people know about mutants. Maybe a few Joes in the senate but they'd have a hard time getting the others to believe them. This whole thing only exists to them on TV, and the only other people I know who know are Daniel and Hannah…" she trailed off, her eyes widening.

"You always have been a smart one." Mom touched Lara's cheek. "Daniel and Hannah were in my visions too. But I couldn't discern the role they were playing."

"Can't you just mind wipe them?" Scott suggested cautiously, as though he didn't want to get his hopes up. 

"Yes we could. The show on TV is of no concern. I put it there on purpose, so that mutants would be considered a myth in reality, at least until--" Said Xavier, he was about to say more but a voice spoke out.

"But," Ororo said her first words. Her delicate fingers played in her white hair. "What if it is to late?" There was complete silence in the room as, slowly, every head turned to look at Ororo. She continued; "I do not mean to be overly pessimistic, but Amorise and Lara have been here for over a week now. Daniel and Hannah have had plenty of time to make a move against them."

"I don't think Hannah knows that we're mutants." I said. "She's been spreading rumors that I got arrested for drugs. And she her friends are still all over Scott. She doesn't know. But Daniel… Mom why didn't your little Jedi tricks him right after he threw us out?"

"I tried, but he's strong and I'm not strong enough. He doesn't have mental blocks, but there was something." She said shaking her head.

"You didn't bring all of Lara and Amori's things did you?" Scott asked mom. When she said no he went on. "Daniel can't keep their stuff. He could get arrested. We can over there under the pretense of getting the rest of their things, while Professor Xavier can try erasing Daniel's knowledge of mutants from the car."


	5. Jedi Mind Tricks

Chapter Five: Jedi Mind Tricks

I have to admit, I was nervous upon knocking on Daniel's door that night. Last time I'd been at this door, there'd been a gun pointed at my chest. Scott stood next to me clutching Lara, with grim determination. Lara, well poor Lara was just jello. We'd told her she could wait in the convertible, black limo, or back at the mansion, but she was determined to see this through with us. I could tell that the heavy footfalls behind the door were that of a man and braced myself for the opening of the door. Daniel saw the three of us and blanched, but to his credit he regained his composure almost as quickly as he'd lost it.

"I thought I told you to stay away from here." He said evenly.

"We want to get the rest of our stuff." Still looking nervous, Lara returned the tone of voice perfectly.

"What do you mean _rest_?" 

"Mom brought us over some." I barely blinked, for fear he'd whip out some sort of weapon. "If it'll get us in easier you have my word that we'll only take the stuff we brought over from Chicago. We won't take anything you paid for."

Gradually he moved aside to let us in. But somewhere deep in my gut, I knew that that had been way to easy. I tried not to dwell on that thought as we moved up the stairs. As we approached the attic stairs going up to my old room instinct grabbed me and I insisted that Scott and Lara stay with me as we went up. 

It was amazing; none of my stuff had been touched. It just sat there with a layer of dust covering almost everything. I was prepared to take everything, but I _had_ promised. So I moved along trying to remember exactly what had come from Illinois. Anything that I wasn't sure about stayed. When I finished we left it in a pile out side the door and moved on to Lara's room. Lara took a while longer, as she'd been about six when we moved here and couldn't remember all of what Daniel had brought.  Scott and I tried to jog her memory, and helped her with the heavier things.

We were almost done when that ominous feeling came back. The feeling that this whole thing had been too easy. Then we heard a click. Gun. I looked to Scott. He calmly dropped the clothes and CD's he was holding and turned around. Lara and I did the same; turning to face Daniel. It was the same gun he'd used to usher us out before, only this time I got the feeling that the only way we'd be ushered out this time was in body bags.

"I'll be so glad when your kind are all locked up in labs somewhere in Washington." Daniel realized the safety on the gun. "But until then I'll have to dispose of you myself."

I watched the gun carefully in his hand. It was small and black with probably enough room for six bullets. Two for each of us. I held out my hand behind my back trying to focus. It had to work this time, or we'd be dead, 'cause for some reason I didn't think Daniel would have any qualms over shooting three mutant teens. Just as Daniel was about to pull the trigger on Lara the gun left his hand in a puff of smoke and I could feel the cool metal appear in mine.

Calmly, I moved the gun from behind my back and pointed it at him. "You're sick, y'know. I can't believe you'd shoot a twelve year old in cold blood." I could see a sheen of sweat on Daniel's face. Good. He was scared. I used my powers again this time requesting some rope. A thick, wrapped coil, about ten feet long, landed at my feet. I clicked the safety on the gun and put it in my pocket before bending down to grab the rope. Things were a blur for minutes after that.

First I felt a hard impact. Daniel jumped on me when I bent to get my rope. He knocked the wind out of me, and I sat gasping for air. More weight landed on us next. Lara was hissing and clawing at Daniel with her fingers. She was causing bloody scratches to appear on his face. The two rolled off of me during the brawl and I was able to get up, leaning on Lara's old dresser for support. Daniel pushed Lara away from him and went for Scott, he dodged, but Daniel's fist knocked Scott's glasses from his face. Not good.

"Lara get down!" I shouted just as blinding red light shot through the room. It was only there for a second, because then Scott shut his eyes stopping the beam from breaking through a wall. Daniel saw this and lumbered towards him. Not knowing why else to do I jumped on him as Lara had done. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hammered my feet into his stomach. Provided with distraction Lara was able to hand Scott his visor back and he was in action again. 

"Amori, get off of him!" Scott commanded.

I kicked his stomach one last time and managed to jump down with out much trouble. Scott purposely lowered his visor, slamming Daniel in the stomach with a red force beam. Daniel slumped, groaning as he keeled over and passed out. 

"Let's get out of here!" Lara breathed, staring at the unconscious body. We all nodded fervently, and hurried to gather the things we'd dropped. 

"Y'know," Scott said as we hurried down the stairs to the front door. "I think it's quite obvious that the two Jedis in the car couldn't get their mind tricks to work."

I turned to him, giving him a look. "Gee smart one, ya think? And, that was my joke."

Despite all that had just happened he managed to flash me a grin as we stepped out into the night. I gave him a slight punch on the shoulder, but grinning all the same. Scott turned to Lara to say something, but stopped short when he noticed her hand. He reached out to touch it, but she pulled away blushing in the darkness.

"Is that…?" Scott trailed off.

"Fur? Yeah." Lara held up her hands to us. 

"It's on your arms too." I pointed out. "Did that just happen tonight?"

She nodded timidly. "I think so. Something clicked when I jumped on Daniel I guess. All that hissing and stuff, y'know? Like at cat." 

A cold breeze blew, reminding me that it was a frigid December night. Too cold for us to be standing out here in windbreakers discussing things. I gestured to Scott's convertible and we started moving for it. The limo holding Ororo, mom, and Xavier was parked behind it. The window rolled down when we approached. 

"I was able to reach his mind." Said the professor in way of greeting us. "And I was able to enter but erasing his thought of mutants did not work. Not even between the two of us. It burns inside his mind like a fire. All he can think of is extinguishing what causes its embers."

"It was kinda obvious when he tried to shoot us." I said dryly. "Scott knocked him out and Lara rearranged his face."

"That's why you were in there so long." Mom spoke up. "We were getting worried."

"You would of seen what was happening if I hadn't shut my eyes." Said Scott. "Trust me. On the plus side Amori got her powers to work."

I pulled proof of this statement out of my pocket and tossed it on the road. "So did Lara."

Xavier nodded. "Maybe we should continue this discussion back at the mansion."

I nodded as the wind bit through me. We put our things into the back of Scott's car, and climbed in shivering. The heat started up as we drove but I didn't stop shivering. I realized that the shivering wasn't coming from the cold, but from the thought buried deep in my mind. What the hell was Daniel going to do when he woke up?

*~*~*


	6. How I found Out That Remy's a Perv

Chapter Six: How I Found Out That Remy's A Perv

I didn't think that it would be possible for mom to leave after that night but she did. She came into my room a few nights later kissed my forehead gently and told me that she was going down south. I tried holding on to her but I had to let go. My chest hurt too much from the cracked ribs I'd gotten.

According to Hank McCoy the reason I didn't feeling the cracked ribs the night I got them was because of the adrenaline rush I was having. But the next morning they sang out to me very painfully and it hurt too much to walk. I listened very carefully to the hall outside my door waiting to here footsteps. When I finally did I called out very pitifully for help. Jubilee opened the door and carefully stuck her head in.

"What's the matter Amori?" she relaxed, not seeing any danger.

"I think I hurt my ribs." I tried sitting up, but found I couldn't. "I don't supposed you could get me down to the hospital wing?"

Jubilee scrunched her brow, thinking. Suddenly she lit up and walked back out to the hall. I sat in pain waiting for her to return. I figured maybe she'd gone for Logan or one of the other adults. But no, when she came back she was dragging a half dressed Remy behind her. I don't know if he was embarrassed or not. I couldn't tell from his blank face. Me? Well I was wearing nothing but a skimpy camisole and some boxers. My face turned beet red when I saw his bare chest, and saw him looking at my clothes, or lack of them.

"She can't walk." Jubes was explaining. "Can you carry her to Beast's lab?"

"Oui." He said. His red on black eyes were twinkling now. Wait! Red on black? I hadn't noticed that before. "If she don't mind 'dat is."

I shot Jubilee a look letting her know I'd be coming after her when I healed, then I turned to Remy. "I don't mind. Just be careful please. My ribs really hurt."  

He was careful as he picked me up and carried me out of the room. I held tightly with my arms around his neck at first, but I quickly realized he wouldn't be dropping me and I let my self relax. 

"Heard about what happened last night." Remy said, walking slowly down the stairs. "Your ribs be hurtin' from 'dat?"

"Yeah. I think it's from when Daniel fell on me, or when Lara jumped on him." I answered, wincing in pain with each word.

Remy noticed this and put a finger to my lips. "Sorry petite, forgot it would hurt you so much to talk. Remy's had a couple of bruised ribs in 'is life. He hurt just like you are now."

"I'll take your word on it." I rasped, managing a small smile. "You called me chere before, now you're calling me petite. Why?"

"Well you is smaller 'dan Remy." He shrugged. "'Eh, what'd Remy say 'bout talkin?"

I stopped talking as we approached Hank McCoy's lab. Remy pulled open the doors with one hand while I tried to use my foot to help. He rolled his eyes at my feeble help, but not in a mocking way. The blue furry man had his back to us as we entered and seemed not to notice our presence. Remy cleared his throat loudly, making Mr. McCoy jump and turn, breathing heavily.

"Ah, it's just you." He said when his breathing had subsided. "Please don't do that."

"Didn't mean t' scare you." Remy ducked his head shyly as he'd done in the art room when we first met. "Amori's hurt. It's her ribs."

"Professor Xavier told me to expect this. Put her down on the bed." He directed. Remy put me down softly, teasingly putting his finger to my lips, once more reminding me not to talk. Beast came over with many tools in hand ready to work. "You're a stubborn young lady Amorise. We could have stopped all of this swelling last night had you come like the professor and your mother suggested."

"Nothing hurt last night." I said sheepishly.

"Adrenaline, the best anesthesia. Especially in a person young of age." Mr. McCoy began to probe his stethoscope over my chest. As he reached to move my top upwards we both looked over at Remy who was standing in the corner by the door.

"Thanks for your help Remy, you perv." I said grinning, knowing exactly what he was trying to get away with. "But you can leave now."

"Out to spoil a mans fun now." But he too grinned and winked at me. "I'll see you 'round ma petite."

Now I was 'ma petite'. If this kept up, I decided, I'd have to pay more attention in French class.

*~*~*

The kind doctor ordered me to stay in bed until further notice. What fun. Further notice was a week, but it still felt like a lifetime. There was literally nothing to do. For the first day I listened constantly to the radio, but Z-100 is a top forty station and it became annoyingly repetitive. I tried sneaking down stairs, but because I was so slow and in so much pain Logan caught me and placed me back in the confines of my bed under the threat of hog-tying if I tried it again. I'd try studying, but there was no motivation until the others came home from school, baring not only their homework, but mine as well. Jean and Scott would tell me (in detail, blech) what we'd gone over in class. Then I'd start working with occasional interruptions from others. Kitty would come in to give me school gossip, Lara came to just visit, Bobby came in frequently to ask if I could use some ice to make the swelling go down (I was quite ready to strangle him after awhile), and Remy came to help me with French (Maybe help is to strong a word. Remy tended to give me the answers so I could get it over with and we could talk). That was my week.

Everyone knew how I'd been injured, but every one tried to skirt around the topic. Not that I was keen on bringing it up myself. Kitty mentioned it once in her gossip report. Hannah had come in to school and, using plenty of female wiles, described how she'd come home to find her father unconscious and bloodied in her old stepsisters room. Daniel was fine now, according to Kitty. He had a few bruised ribs like me, but with an added concussion and scared face. Hannah said he claimed to have been knocked out by red lasers, but no one in the hospital believed him. The hospital found that his blood-alcohol level was far higher than it should've been (I kind of expected that) and passed it off as drunken fantasy. But, Hannah had continued, two guys did believe him and were coming to talk to him in a few weeks. A few weeks. That's how long we had before a few more Joe's knew about mutants. Did he remember who had hurt him? No; thank the Gods that be for small blessings. But Daniel still knew that his two former stepdaughters and their mother were mutants, and that two of them were currently still in town. Hannah didn't believe in the whole mutant thing, but it still wasn't good. Hannah loved spreading rumors as much as she loved playing with her hair. Wonderful right?

*~*~*


	7. How Daniel and President Bush Ruined My ...

Chapter Seven: How Daniel and President Bush Ruined My Day At Rex Plex

Or

Rex Plex, Hannah, and Vodka

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Evan asked me for the umpteenth time. It was sweet that he was so over protective, but there was a limit and he'd gone over it about an hour ago. 

"You don't wanna break anymore ribs." Kurt wasn't as bad as Evan but he was approaching an annoying level very quickly.

"Listen!"  I whirled around, snapping my helmet to my head. "Evan your aunt drove us out here. If she didn't think I was up to it I'd be home in bed with Logan guarding my door. Ok? I'm fine. It doesn't hurt and it's been three weeks! Mr. McCoy even said I could be out here."

Where was 'here' you ask. Evan has lately been totally shmoozing up to Ororo so that she'd drive him out to Rex Plex across the Hudson in New Jersey. The shmoozing worked and she agreed, but didn't think it made much sense to only bring him. So she asked the rest of the mansion if they wanted to go. Most were busy this weekend so it was only Evan, Kurt, Bobby, and of course me. Some quality time with the boys, not that I minded.  

Evan and Kurt were pretty worried about me because of my recent injuries. And see Rex Plex just happens to be one big sporting complex with nice sections for skate boarding, rock climbing, and blading, three of my favorite sports. Of course I tend to fall doing some of the more extreme things and I don't have the sense to stop even if I'm thoroughly bruised and busted. Bobby took the 'just let the girl skate and climb and if she falls on her ass we can laugh' position, basically what I was thinking.

"Come on!" I said defiantly almost glaring at Evan and Kurt.

For the past week I'd been working in the Danger Room to gain back my strength from bed. But nothing energizes you like being in an over filled noisy building with other people who love action as much as you do. Plus this was a whole lot more fun than nine-inch claws or laser beams coming out of your cousin's eyes while dressed in navy blue spandex. For four hours I worked off various strains of stress caused by Daniel, Hannah, mothers, French, teachers, and ribs. I fell a lot in the beginning, admittedly bruising my chest, but it was worth it. 

Ororo said she'd be picking us up at around five thirty so at four we pulled off our skates and went over to the food court. We stuffed our selves with enough junk food to last for months while talking about mundane things to pass the time. The little TV's positioned in the corners of the counters went on at four showing a Knicks vs. Lakers game. Evan and Bobby got into a heated debate over Kobi Bryant and Shaq basically blocking out everyone else not talking about basketball. In the middle of the first quarter the TV's went black showing only a bouncing NBC peacock in the middle. 

"Hey!" Bobby and Evan finally noticed that the game was no longer playing. "What happened?" 

After a few minutes the three familiar NBC chimes played and a little message scrolled across the bottom of the screen. It flashed through so quickly that it took three tries before we could decipher it thoroughly.

"Ve interrupt ze Knicks/Lakers game to bring you zis announcement live from Vashington D.C." Kurt read aloud. "Please hold for zis important coverage."

These days I preferred not to hear any news from Washington. It meant that they didn't know anything about mutants and nothing bad could happen. I did know though, thanks to Hannah's mouth, that their house had had some visitors over the weekend.

"Could they hurry up?" Evan said impatiently. As soon as he said it the peacock disappeared and was replaced with the president standing in front of a crowd of reporters with the presidential seal behind him. Why did I think my Saturday at Rex Plex was about to be ruined in the worst way? 

"I thank you for joining me on such short notice." Said President Bush as the reporters quieted. "There has been some interesting new information placed on my desk recently. The information states that apparently there are some super humans- or mutants- in our mists. I know that it seems difficult to believe, but after I reviewed the information the FBI found evidence of mutant testing facilities in Canada and other various countries. This is, unfortunately, all the information I can provide you at the moment. I'd like you now to please turn your attention to one of the top genetic scientists in the county, Dr. Nostrum…"

That was where our attention trailed off and we took one collective gulp, then another and another. I stopped twirling my skateboard and it dropped to the ground with a clang. Evan's followed mine and we all sort of stared at each other. Kurt nervously glanced back to see if they were still going. They were. The Doctor was giving the reporters the 411 on genetic mutation.

"We should go meet your aunt." Bobby said tonelessly to Evan. 

"Yeah. Auntie O, right." Evan blinked thoroughly. "Maybe it's not gonna get as bad as your mom saw it."

'Optimism' I thought squeezing my hands into fists. 'Think optimistic.' I dug deep finding one thing. "She said she saw robots hunting down mutants. Big robots. The country doesn't even have money to help our pathetic schools, where would they get the money to fund a lets wipe out mutants program?"

"Ja. I agree wiz Amori. Zey don't have ze time or ze money, and zey'd have to find us. If zey do try to find mutants zey can't expect us to come wizout a fight." Kurt said picking up his things as we readied to leave.

"This country," said Evan a little scathingly. "Can do anything it puts its damned mind to.  It might take awhile but if they really want it, they'll get it. They don't call us the most powerful country in the world for nothing."

What a regular little ray of sunshine.

*~*~*

We were all fidgety on the way back to Bayville. Seats kept getting iced, and the leather needed some patching by the time we got back home. We were out of the car in a flash, and we expected to find Professor Xavier, but he'd left already for Washington D.C to do some damage control. It was obvious to me that he wasn't planning to wipe the minds of senators and the president, so when I say damage control it's not in that sense. He was just meeting with them (the senators at least) to see what their exact plans regarding there new knowledge was. The rest of us had these instructions- Relax, and don't let this interfere with your lives. Right. If your step-father had just possibly ruined your and god knows how many others lives would you relax. I think not. 

You can bet that school was interesting on Monday. The subjects that everyone wanted to talk about were mutants and if they were real. The lunchroom was literally buzzing. And if that wasn't enough people were _still_ asking me if I was on Coke or Ecstasy, and if I was could I get some for them (I was accosted by like five people with that last question on the way to my lunch table; it's still really sad). I got to my lunch table, sat down, and to block out all the noise of the cafeteria I put on my headphones. Jay-Z on volume setting ten. I coulda blown out my eardrums, but at least I wouldn't be dealing with people. Next I took out my History essay that was due next period and started writing it. I acknowledged Scott briefly when he sat down and started lecturing me on doing my one thousand-word essay forty minutes before class (such a slave driver). Remy and Jean joined us and Remy shut Scott up for me, for which I was very grateful.  Towards the end of the period I turned my disc-man off and became reasonably social. I left for AP History with Scott and Jean twenty minutes before the bell so we could stop at our lockers and get our hundred pound textbooks.

"Don't forget to put you CD player in." Jean smirked leaning on the locker next to mine. "Mr. Dunston wasn't pleased the last three times he caught you listening to it."

"And what painful detentions those were. JarJar's evil anyway."  The students of Bayville who have Mr. Dunston call him JarJar because he really does have a frightening resemblance to that annoying Star Wars character.  "There was no reason to make me help the janitors clean the guys bathrooms. Did you know that guys in this school are _still_ peeing on the radiators?"

"Gee thanks for sharing Amori." As I slammed my locker Jean looked over at Scott with a raised eyebrow. Scott rolled his eyes sighing.

"Let's just go to class." He said changing the subject. 

Scott, Jean and I walked down the hall and rounded the corner. I, still writing my paper, managed to walk straight into the Queen Bitch her self. We stopped and stared at each other. Jean and Scott looked on warily holding a collective breath probably praying that we wouldn't get into a bitch fight.

Hannah was dressed very un-Hannah like. Instead of her normal I'm-Jennifer-Aniston look she was wearing an old Bayville High pullover and old faded flares. Her dirty blond hair had no highlights and was pulled back into a plain ponytail. And *gasp* there was no make up on her face. It was at this point when I found out that she actually had acne like the rest of us teenagers. Slung over her shoulder was her field hockey duffle and it looked like it was about to burst. The normal air of popularity that surrounded her was gone and her face now looked grim and determined

"Amorise." He said in formal greeting.

"Hannah." I said back in the same tone. I hadn't had to talk to her since we'd gone into her house and I didn't really want to. "Sorry I knocked into you."

She poked her tongue to the side of her cheek, drumming her fingers on the strap of her duffle bag. "You'll be happy to know I'm leaving Bayville."

I managed not to make a fool out of myself by jumping up and down with joy in the hall.  "Why're you telling us this?"

"Well I figured you'd like to know that the bane of your life is leaving." She said almost bitterly.

The bitterness in her voice annoyed me. It meant that she thought I _shouldn't _think that she was a pain in the arse, and that was a totally wrong assumption. She'd given me hell since I moved to Bayville. I had every right to think she was.

"I'm glad." I finally said. "Make sure you take that bastard of a father with you." Over to the side Scott and Jean groaned. Obviously they didn't think me stating the truth about her father was worth possibly getting into a fight.

Yeah right Her voice sounded in my head. I almost fainted; in fact it was Scott that saved me from hitting my head on a locker. It's him I'm getting away from. God Amori you act like you've never seen a mutant before. Telepathy is one of the most common mutations you know. 

The smugness in the last sentence made me want to punch her in the nose but Scott, seeing my fist, grabbed my hand, holding me back. This made no sense. The girl had let her father tell the government about us, and she was a mutant herself. Now she was running. Part of me wanted to kill there, and the other part of me wanted to knock her over the head and drag her to a psychiatrist. 'Cause, Lord did she need one. 

"Listen." She said, speaking again. "I've been totally protecting you since dad kicked you out. Why do you think I started those drug rumors? Duh, so no one would believe dad if he tried to tell them that you an your sister were mutants." She pursed her lips. "And what did I get for it? A bruised shin. And when he attacked the three of you I was the one who wiped his memory while he was unconscious so he couldn't remember who'd been in the house."

"You couldn't have done that." Said Jean. "The most powerful telepath in the world tried and he couldn't."

"I'm related to him by blood, and he was unconscious. That make it a lot easier." Hannah spat back. 

"Then why didn't you take all that stuff about mutants out of his head?" asked Jean. 

"I tried. Didn't work." She said. "I just wanted you know this before I left Amori, I'm not all bad. I look out for fellow mutants."

"Sure." I said trying the wrench from Scott's hands. But obviously he knew I wanted to rearrange her face so he kept his grip solid. "You're not all bad. And I really believe you look out for 'fellow mutants'. You really helped that night when I got thrown out. Thanks."

"Where're you going?" Scott asked neutrally.

"Hawaii."

"You're stupider than ya look." I said shaking my head, letting out a low whistle. "How the hell are you gonna afford to go to Hawaii?"

"My mom lives there. Maybe you know her Scott. Sharon Masters." Hannah shot Scott a look.

Scott paled, releasing me. "You've gotta be kidding. Hannah, I swear to God if you do anything to him…"

"Like I would." She flicked a stray piece of hair away from her face. "He's my bro."

Jean glanced at Scott with sympathy. I glanced at Scott for explanations. Who were the Masters?

"Oh, look at the time" Hannah glanced at her watch. "Five minutes till class, and three hours till my flight. I'd better get going. You know what with security and all." She shifted the weight of her duffle bag and grinned. "Amori, Scott…don't get hurt. Jean don't hurt them. Ciao."  To my surprise she hugged Scott and I briefly like we were old friends parting. 

I tried pinching my self as we watched her disappear down the hall. When that didn't work I banged my head up against a locker. I shook my head a few times too.

"God I've always been good." I muttered as Jean and Scott started dragging me to History. "I don't smoke, I'm a virgin, I don't even date, I don't drink under age…well ok there was the one time that I had some of Remy's stash. Wait that's it isn't it. The Vodka's catching up to me. This is one big hangover…"

"No that was real. Very real. Hannah's leaving." Scott's voice broke through my mumblings. "She's going to live with my brother."

"The Masters?" I asked. "That's where I knew the name from right?"

"Yeah." Scott grimaced. "This is too weird. Hannah just happens to be going to live with my brother. Your cousin."

"Excuse me?" Jean almost yelled. "Did you just say cousin?"

I smacked my forehead. "It's a long story. Scott, we have two periods left in the day. Would it really kill us to leave early? Just this once? We can go back to the mansion, we can explain our relation to Jean and you can explain exactly how you met your brother so I can decide if I think Hannah's telling the truth or not."

"Fine." Well this was a first. Scott does not skip school. "And you, Amori, can explain what you and Remy were doing drinking Vodka."

Damn. Damn. Damn.

*~*~*

Back at the mansion we snuck in and crept up to my room where Scott and I explained everything to Jean and Jean and Scott explained how Scott had been reunited with Alex and the things that had happened during that time. Amazingly it was quite similar to what had happened on the show. I then explained what Remy and I had been doing drinking Vodka. Unfortunately Logan chose that time to walk past my room and heard enough (even though the door was closed. Some time I curse that hearing of his) to ground me and Remy (luckily it was about three thirty when he walked passed so he didn't know we'd ditched school early). I'll be washing uniforms and dishes for the next month. 

"Be happy it wasn't Xavier or Ororo who caught you. Logan can't punish you as much as they can 'cause he likes a good beer as much a Remy likes his bourbon." Jean looked to me then Scott. "I can't believe you two are cousins. Why didn't you tell the rest of us?"

"A lot of people think we date incognito. If word got out that we were cousins…I'm sure you can use your imagination."  I answered.

Seeing as the others, except for Remy and Kurt, had no quick way of getting home the mansion was quiet for another hour. The three of us stayed in my room discussing more trivial things. Jean and Scott pulled out homework and I pulled out my snowboard (I have no work ethic). Rubbing it down always helps me relax after excruciatingly stressful days. I honestly did feel calmer after pushing the cloth up and down a few times and thinking about snow during the upcoming Christmas break. Ah, Christmas. Now there's something I hadn't thought about in a while. Casually I glanced at the calendar. It was December fifteenth. Oh boy.

"You know it's almost Christmas." I mentioned. 

"You're right." Jean raised her eyebrows. "I'd almost forgotten. Are you going to see your brother Scott?"

"Yeah." Scott grimaced. "Now we get to see Hannah too. Joy."

"We?" Jean asked.

"Amori and Lara are going too. Right?" Scott grinned at me as my jaw dropped.

A lot of thoughts were going through my head. The most prominent of them was _there's no snow in Hawaii._ For the life of me I don't know why the hell I was rating snow over Hawaii. Scott laughed at the goofy look I had plastered on my face. 

"You said you wanted to meet Alex." He said. "And he asked if I'd bring you guys when I went down for Christmas."

"Hawaii." I said when my mouth could form syllables again. "We're going to Hawaii? When were you going to tell us? This requires major shopping you know." 

"We're leaving next Monday." He smirked, and then ducked his head back to his work.


	8. Switch Off

Chapter Eight: Switch Off

_According to Amori we have to switch now. I didn't even have any idea that we were doing anything. But no, she's just handed me an eight-subject five star notebook and a pen and told me to record everything that happens to us. Lara's giving her a very weird look but Amori has settled back into her seat and her headphones are drowning out the world around her. Looking back through the book it's obvious that she's been keeping this since we met in the seventh grade. It's a basically a record of our lives. Maybe I should take over. She after all has been keeping it for eight years. It just seems sort of odd that on a plane over the Pacific she'd say 'Ok, you have to document our lives now'._

_Amori told me just state my name for the record and continue our life story and give it back to her in eight years. Ok, I'm Scott Summers and the loon who's just handed me this notebook is my cousin Amori Kyle. I live in Bayville, New York but I'm originally from Anchorage, Alaska…_

"No, no!" Amori looked up from her Cosmo. "I already wrote all your stats. I did that back in seventh grade. Just tell what happens to us."

"You are strange." I said, closing the book. "What's with this anyway?"

She shrugged. "It just sorta came into existence one day. And it's yours now for eight years."

I raised my eyebrows, flipping through some of the pages from before. It seemed that when she moved to the mansion the entries went off on other topics like Hannah, her mother, or Remy. Remy? I grinned at her skimming over the entry. The general gist was that she had a major crush on a certain Cajun.

"Does Remy know all of this?" I teased. Lara looked over my arm to see what I was teasing her sister about and her face lit up when she read the page.

"You wanna hug him, you wanna kiss him." Lara said in a singsong voice.

"Oh damn." Amori blushed, staring out of the planes window. "I wrote that in there?"

"Not in those words." I said. "But we get the idea."

She sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It's not like he doesn't know so you don't have to go rubbing it in his face. Besides Scott what happened to, I stay out of your love life and you stay out of mine. I haven't tried to set you up with Jean any more have I?"

"Oh God Amori." I rolled my eyes sky ward. "I set you up one bad date…"

"Two. You took me to the eighth grade dinner dance. Remember." Amori shot back.

"That was cold." Said Lara.

"I'm kidding Scott." She said, giving me puppy dog eyes. "And anyway, yes I do like Remy. He's sweet."

"And he's turning you into an alcoholic." I joked. 

Amori gave a heavy I'm-more-mature-than-you sigh and plopped her headphones back on her ears. "Let me know when we're there. Shouldn't be more than an hour." As if to verify the comment she gestured down to the blue Pacific Ocean below us.

Lara and I assured her we would then I turned back to the notebook in my lap.

_An hour until we get to Hawaii. I know it's Christmas and all, but I have this really weird feeling that something bad might happen. Maybe it's just the distance getting to me; being so far from New York and all. It could be that Hannah's going to be there and that she lives in the same house as my brother. I think it's defiantly more the logistics of the whole thing though. Hawaii's just so far off. If something bad were to go on would anyone back at the mansion find out? I didn't have this feeling when I was there in October just before Halloween, and that was really bad with that storm and Alex and I almost drowning. Maybe I'm just overly paranoid, but somehow I don't think so._

*~*

It was very hot when we got off of the plane in Hawaii. That might sound like a dumb statement, but it was true. The airport was fairly crowded because of holiday traffic, but I was able to find Alex quickly after we entered the terminal. His almost bleached white hair stood out among the crowd. Hannah was with him twirling car keys on her finger while leaning against a palm tree. I groaned slightly when I saw her and when I pointed them out Amori shared my reaction but a little more vehemently.

I see you guys over there. Come On! Hannah sounded a lot happier than she had been in Bayville. Her minds voice was light and had an under tone of a laugh in it. Amori even smiled a little after hearing her call.

"Scott!" As we approached my little brother grabbed me, squeezing fiercely. I returned the embrace, grinning all the while. Amori and Lara greeted Hannah (civilly I noticed) with tight smiles and hellos and then turned their attention to Alex as Hannah introduced them. Amori granted herself a friendly demeanor when she turned to Alex, and by the time we were walking out to the parking lot the were in a heated discussion.  

The back of their jeep was loaded with surfboards, a cooler and various other things one would take to the beach. Hannah had to push some of the stuff out of the back seat before we could all fit in.

"Hope you guys aren't too tired." Said Alex, climbing into the drivers seat. "The beach awaits. And, they're no storms in the forecast."

"That's not funny Alex." I rolled my eyes, wondering how he could joke about that.

"Definitely the beach." Said Lara. "We're not that tired, right?"

Amori and I nodded in agreement. Hannah laughed. "Well even if you were, Alex's driving would keep you awake. You might wanna buckle your belts…"


	9. Trouble in Paradise

Chapter Nine: Trouble in Paradise 

(A/n- I have to take this time to say thank you to the reviewers and to put in a disclaimer so I don't get my butt sued off. 

Disclaimer: X-men: Evolution and all characters that you see on the show belong to Marvel comics and WB Kids. Amori, Lara, Hannah, Daniel, and Kendra belong to me. If you want to use them or this plot please ask. Bayville belongs to the U.S.A (I only live thirty miles away right across the Hudson!).

Ack, this is longer than I meant it to be. Oh well. Please R/R.)  

_It's eight o' clock in the morning on Christmas and I've just been awoken by Lara. Ask me how happy I am about this arrangement. Oh well, she is only twelve. I haven't written here since the plane, and Amori might kill me one day if she finds a chunk of our lives missing, so I'd better give a quick update. _

_We've been here for a week and we've basically spent the whole time at the beach and the mall. We'll probably go back to the beach later today (after Lara's pixy stick high has worn off of course. Amori told Alex giving Lara all that sugar was a bad idea. She might end up setting us on fire, which she _could_ do if she so desired). Amori and Hannah have been attempting to knit together a fragile friendship; it's sorta working. She's also got rid of some of the tension she's been working up ever since she moved to the mansion. There hasn't been a peep out of her about the government or the senate since we got her. This is a track record for Amori. Alex hasn't changed since I saw him in November. He's still very outgoing, and good for a laugh. Though I do think the storm experience has made him a little bit more cautious. As for me, well, don' t tell, but not being 'Leader of the X-men' for a while is really nice.  _

_Amori's cell is ringing. I can hear it though the wall. I can also hear her cursing at it through the wall. She never turns that thing off. Let's see…it just stopped ringing. Lara's bouncing around their room now (I can hear her), and Alex is next to me wondering why he gave her that candy. Amori just ended her call with 'Merry  Christmas. __Je__t'aime__.' Obviously she was talking to Remy. Of course one wonders what he's doing up at three o' clock.  ___

I closed the notebook still wondering why Remy was calling Amori at three in the morning, and wondering why I'd documented it. Probably 'cause I was still tired. Next to me Alex was trying to recover from the shock of being woken at eight o' clock in the morning. He was not by any means a morning person, no matter what holiday it was and has probably never seen a sunrise in his life. I opened the blinds in the room attempting to shine some sunlight into his face, but instead we were greeted with gray skies, blowing trees and waves crashing along the beach. Looked like a storm was coming in.

"Maybe it'll clear up." Alex shrugged, not sounding to optimistic. "It wasn't supposed…"

Alex was interrupted by a long string of expletives coming from the next room. I couldn't tell which one of the girls it was, but the sound was high pitched, and clear. Next thing we knew there was a loud banging at the door and Lara came running back in, but this time she wasn't on a sugar jazz.

"Turn the TV to WB." She said urgently.

Alex took the remote for his television from his desk and turned the TV on. He channel surfed for a few seconds before coming to the WB network. It was a Saturday, so even though it was Christmas morning WB Kids was still on. Pokémon had just finished up and now they were showing X-men: Evolution; professor Xavier's planted show. 

"So, what's up?" Alex mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "It looks like any other episode. There's Scott, Jean, Evan, Kitty, Amori, Hannah…" He stopped mid sentence.

On the screen the animated version of myself was talking to a girl with short brown hair, and seemingly tanned skin. The girl standing behind them had red streaked hair and was wearing a halter top, capris and platform shoes. Amori and Hannah were animated and on TV, and somehow I didn't think that this was the professor's doing.

"Get this," Lara eyed the TV wearily. "On this weeks episode new character Amori and her kid sister Lara get kicked out of their home by their stepfather. A friend of Amori's rescues them. Sound familiar?"

"Professor Xavier did not put that there." Amori appeared the door with Hannah next to her. She leaned against the frame with her nightshirt swaying near her knees. "I smell trouble."

"Ditto." Hannah said. "I'd say that you three have a problem, because of course now anyone who watches this show in Bayville is gonna know. It was a good cover until the government found out."

I sighed. "I wonder if Daniel had anything to do with this."

"Of course he did. He's the source of all our problems." Amori said sensibly. "I suggest we get up and enjoy our Christmas, but we deal with this first thing tomorrow."

"Enjoy our Christmas?" Alex raised an eyebrow. 

She shrugged. "Well you don't want your parents getting suspicious do you? They'll wonder why we're all so upset." 

"Shh!" Lara waved her arms around and pointed to the television.

The TV versions of Amori, Lara and I were being dragged off kicking and screaming, by guys in black armor. Some of them were also taking away Kurt, and he wasn't wearing his image inducer. Neither was Lara. Bad omen or coincidence? I didn't know, and I wasn't eager to find out.

~

It was still cloudy when Amori and I went out later that day. We'd deemed it too windy to go to the beach, and Alex, Lara, and Hannah were inside the house glued to the PS2, so Amori and I decided to walk around a little. We skirted around the topic of what had happened that morning, and talked about oddly normal things like CD's and sports.

Alex's block was a typical suburban settlement. All the houses were modern and well kept. Some houses had evidence of child inhabitants, and some houses looked like they belonged to retirees, aka- old people. There was a palm tree at the base of every house and different flowers planted neatly in pots hanging on light posts. The development was reletivly new; most of the houses had been built in the early nineties, late eighties. Coming from the air port, Alex had to drive over a lot of back roads to get here. All big towns, malls and high ways were about twenty miles away. If Amori had remembered that last little detail, we wouldn't have gotten into the pile of shit we got into next.

We probably looked like brother and sister when we were walking down the street. It was just like we were in eighth grade again when we used to walk home from school together. Amori would be the one doing cart wheels and hand stands down the sidewalks and I'd be the one laughing behind her while telling her to stop. At the moment she was in a crab walk at a street corner waiting for me to catch up. 

 A beat up Yellow BMW New Bug pulled up next to Amori at the corner. As the window rolled down she got out of her crouched position looked the car over. There were two people in the car, and boy did they look worng for that car. People in Armani suits usually down'r drive beat up BMW's. This alone was a tip off for me. Amori was engaged in conversation with the two men, but I couldn't hear it because I wasn't close enough yet. So I jogged up to Amori and the car.

"…where Route 35 is?" I caught the last snippet of sentence from the guy sitting in the drivers seat.

"Route 35?" Amori shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

The man in the passengers seat stuck his head out of the window. "Maybe your brother knows?" He flashed a smile. If it was supposed to put me at ease, defiantly did not do it's job.

"We're not native." I said shortly. There was something not right here, something other than the Armani suits. I could tell they had accents, but not from where. "My _sister_ sometimes forgets not to talk to strangers. C'mon Amori."

"Sure you don't know. We're mighty lost." Driving man spoke. The accent was southern. I looked oit of the corner of my eye to see how far away Alex's house was. I wanted to know how fast we might need to run. My Danger Room training was kicking in.

She looked at me oddly. She wasn't feeling what I was about this. "We wish we could help you, You might want to try one of the--."

Amori stopped short suddenly, making a sort of 'eep' noise under her breath. I whipped my head back to the scene. Automatically I reached for my glasses, ready to pull them down and blast the car away. 

The guy in the passenger seat was holding a gun. We've been up against guns before, and it was no sweat. But those were all common handguns. This looked like something you'd shoot an elephant with, and it was pointed at us.

"Oh give me a break." Amori rolled her eyes, holding her hand out obviously readying to use her powers. Ten seconds later we were still sitting there with the gun pointed at us. Her powers weren't working.

"Get in the car." One of the guys demanded.      

I grabbed Amori's arm and started backing her away. At first she was resisting, but when she saw the gun still following us she let me lead her. The two men didn't say anything. The driver just shrugged and pointed his finger in a slight motion. The man with the gun pulled the trigger twice. Bullets didn't come out. Little darts flew out at lighting speed. I felt a hard 'thwack' in my neck, and my head started to swim. I tried to pull the dart out but my fingers were numb and I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't see Amori, because my neck wouldn't move, and finally I had to succumb to darkness.

*~*

I don't know why, but all I could think about were marshmallows. Big, white, and fluffy marshmallows were dancing all pver the place. It was really nice, except for the occasional burning pain that would come. It seemed very out of place in marshmallow land. Maybe I'd call the marshmellow gaurds to come take care of this…

"Scott, Scott. C'mon bro, wake up! Scott please? Wake up." Why did the marshmallows sound scared?

"Scott!" I felt a hard slap accompany my name. I jerked around, and fell of te marshmallow I was sitting on. I fell for awhile, before my head made contact with a cold hard surface. My eyes flew open. 

"Ve zought you vould not vake up!" I looked above me as I moaned over and over again. My head hurt so much as my eyes focused on Kurt and Alex kneeling by me. I looked around the room. It was obvious that this was not Alex's home or the side walk. The walls of the room were made from gray cement and the ceiling held a small slit where a sliver of sun light was filtered in. It was a cell

"Oh god." I groaned. "I feel like I got hit with a sledge hammer."

"Have some water." Said an unfamiliar voice. An African American woman who looked like she was in her early twenties handed me a flask. Alex opened for me whn I found I couldn't and held it to my mouth. I took deep gulps, discovering that water seemed to clean out my system.

"Thank you." I said. I was lying near a wall, so I slowly pulled myself up against it to a sitting up postion. The room was filled other people. They looked to be from ten to late thirties. Some were huddle in groups and some were alone in corners. The smallest children were all squished together on the three beds that occupied the room. Across the room I saw Evan and Rogue talking to some of the kids. There was a girl crying in Evan's arms as he stroked her hair. I didn't see any one else that I recognized in the crowd.

"You've been out for twenty-four hours." The woman informed me. "Your friends were very worried. I think you might have gotten a double dose of that seditave they've been using on all of us."

"All of us?" I looked aroud the room again.

Kurt nodded. "Ja. Every one being held in zis building is a mutant."

"They're holding…where are we?" My mind started spinning again. The government had started an anti mutant project.

"Somewhere on the west coast." Alex frowned at the wall. "About thirty minutes after you and Amori left on Christmas two guys rang the doorbell. My mom answered and they gassed her or something, so she was out cold. Dad was in the garage so he didn't hear anything. The guys came into the den where were playing video games and gassed us too, when we woke up we were here. We only know west coast because one of the guys over there woke up while they were flying him out here."

"then Kurt, how'd you, Evan, and Rogue get here." 

"Snowball fight in Bayville Memorial Park. Zey got us zere. Ve've been here longer zan you zough; since Christmas Eve." Kurt sighed. His demonic looking tail twitched nervously behind him. Tail? Ah…Kurt's image inducer was missing. "Remy's here too, over zere some where. Jean, and Kitty aren't zough because zey went home for ze holidays. I don't know about ze rest of ze mansion. I zink Jamie and Bobby went home also, but ze rest are zere."

I was about to ask another question but Alex raised his hand up before I could speak "Amori and Hannah were taken to other rooms and Lara's somewhere in here."

I scanned the room again searching for Lara. She was easy to spot with her orange fur, in a near corner. Her image inducer was missing also. She was talking to a dark haired boy that looked to be about her age. Bright range flames danced around both of their hands.  

"Drink some more." The woman with the water was handing me the flask again. "It flushes the sedative out of your body, not to mention it hydrates you again. I'd guess you'd have to be thirsty after twenty hours."

"No offense, but…why are you helping me?" I asked skeptically. "There're a lot of little kids in here that probably need more help than I do."

"None taken." She said, smiling. "You've saved a lot lives in your day. You deserve it. And besides, you were the only person still knocked out. I was worried, along with your friends, that maybe you wouldn't wake up. My name's Kendra by the way. Kendra Casey; formally of St. Louis." She held out her hand.

"I'm Scott Summers, from Bayville, New York." Her grip was strong and she grinned as she shook.

"I met your brother and friends." Kendra said gesturing around. "And let me be the first to say. Your cousin is quite a feisty one."

I was instantly alert. "Why? What happened?"

"She wouldn't give up her image inducer." Alex said dryly. "She miniature Logan. She _bit_ the guy who tried to get it off of her."

"That wasn't good was it?" I put a hand to my forehead. 

"They had to knock her out with the back end of a gun." Kendra grimaced. "Then they had to fire a few shots into the ceiling to get everyone calmed down again."

I looked at the ceiling. Sure enough there was a circle of bullet holes that looked very much like a machine gun had made them. At least Lara hadn't been _too_ hurt. She looked fine over in the corner. When I felt better I'd have to go and check on her. 

I watched the residents of our room for a few minutes trying to collect the thoughts in my still swimming and throbbing head. 

"'Ey mon amie, you feeling better?" Remy's familiar Cajun accent floated behind me. I turned around quickly, immediately regretting it. I felt faint again, and it was a major effort to keep my self up straight. 

"Better, I think." I shrugged. "How're you?"

"Well as a captive can be." Was his flat answer. "Can't get outa this place."

Kendra nodded in agreement. "The security is very good, and people haven't tried to escape because of the children. No one wants them hurt. We've been trying to be optimistic, and hope that they let us out."

"Trying to be optimistic? How long have you been here?" 

"Since two days after the mutant press conference ." Her voice took a downward tone. "I wish that we could try and escape."

I raised my eyebrows. Escape. Hmm… I could do this. If I tried, I really could. I'd been in worse situations than this thanks to Magneto. Of course this was (I assumed) the United States army, but hey, we had an advantage.

Remy grinned, watching my face as I thought. "I guess you've 'dought of somet'ing, I know dat look. Remy'll get Evan and Rogue. Looks like dis could be fun."

*~*~*


	10. Chapter Ten: Planning

Chapter Ten: Planning

(A/n- Arrrrrrg! My computer crashed last week (or at least I thought it had crashed). No one bothered to look at it until Sunday morning! Then it turned out IT HADN'T CRASHED! One more time everybody ARRRRRRRRRG! And I had school off ALL last week. I could've been writing soooo much, but noooooo! Another classic case of stupidity! Oh well, I know I haven't posted for two weeks ***curses her self mentally*** but PLEASE keep reading. And review please! I live for reviews. I want to know what you guys think, and hint hint, I'm getting more hits than reviews…Anyhoo, like I said sorry for the delay. Trust me it won't happen again.) 

Trouble with planning was that I knew to escape we'd have to take a subtle approach. I knew that I could easily blast a hole through the wall and we could use that as our escape. Of course then there's the problem of probable people on the other side of the wall…so that option was out. Amori tells me endlessly that I'm awful at subtleness, and sometimes I agree with her. I prefer to go in and get it over with, and while I'm not as bad as say, Logan, I'm pretty bad. The good thing was I had my friends to help me decide how we were going to get out of here.

The first thing we decided we needed to do was discover the routines that took place inside our prison. Since we were inside a cement room that wasn't easy, and the only things we were really able to discover was that food came three times a day. Eight in the morning, twelve noon, and seven in the evening. Three guards would come in; one pushing a cart and throwing out food, and the other two holding guns that were over kill for anything walking on two legs. None of us captives were allowed to leave the cell, but they brought new people in almost every day. We could hear constant footsteps on the other side of the door. A twenty four hour guard. Wonderful. And we couldn't tell just by the footsteps how many there were.

We discovered that a lot of the younger kids (the nine and ten year olds) in the room with us weren't mutants; it was just their parents. Their captors had just grabbed whole families out of their houses. One this was for sure…this kinda thing sure as hell ain't legal. The kids were just stuck in the middle of a whole genocide project. Ok, maybe genocide is to strong a word, or then again, maybe not. What ever it was, after five days of watching crying kids cling to parents or cry out for them I was totally pissed. 

After watching routines for five days, and coming up with the same thing each day, we started trying to figure some way to get out. Our first plan was to have Kurt 'bamf' us out. It was brilliant! Until he reminded the rest of us that he could only teleport to places he knew. That was a problem as we didn't know where we were, and unfortunately he had his limits so even if he could've he'd have to do it shifts and it could take days because he'd have to regain strength in between bamfs. 

Next we looked to the little slit in the ceiling. It was very small, about one a half feet long and ten inches wide. No one could fit through it naturally and no one had a particular power that made them able to slip through it. We thought about widening it, but the ceiling might cave in, and that would defeat the whole purpose. 

It was frustrating not to be able to do anything, but there weren't a whole lot of options. People offered other ideas, but we couldn't make any of them work, either for fear of killing some one or it was just impossible. 

*~*~*

The guards never talked to us when they came in to give us food or when they were making routine checks. They came in quickly and went out. If they needed someone they'd just look around for a second, and then grab the person they were looking for. The people who came back said that it was a bunch of tests and drawing blood. So of course none of us were too eager for our turn. When the first person was dragged out we thought maybe they'd be able to give us a layout of the building, but upon returning people always said the guards made sure they couldn't see where they were going.

I was grabbed while I was talking with Remy and Kendra. I didn't fight it; I figured it wouldn't have done any good. The guard had a tight grip on my shoulder and move of resistance could have resulted in serious pain and/or injury. Outside the door of the cell my holder grabbed my glasses from my face. I flinched, and shut my eyes so as not to kill us all. 

It wasn't along walk. We went up a flight of stairs then took a sharp right and stopped. I could tell we were in a room. It was brightly lit and there were at least three people in it. Someone shoved me roughly and I fell onto what I thought was a mattress. I felt straps going around my wrists and ankles, and then heard two other people entering the room. A body was thrown down close to me and strapped down as well.

"Where're the needles?" a voice close to me spoke. It was a male voice, low and gravely.

"Here sir." This time it was a girl with an English accent. "Remember what the gent said. One vial only.

"You don't need to remind me." Gravel voice snapped.

The girl didn't say anything. I guess she handed him the needles because I felt something pierce my skin seconds after they finished talking. It was quick but painful. It felt like they were using a vacuum cleaner to draw my blood. When they withdrew the needle I relaxed waiting for whatever would come next. There was nothing for the next fifteen minutes, and I could tell they weren't doing anything to the person next to me either.  

My thoughts turned to the rest of my friends, escape plans, the other people in the building, and then finally the meaning of life. It was a long fifteen minutes, heck it coulda been longer, I certainly couldn't see my watch. 

"Do you want me to do this?" the girl asked gravel voice.

"Do it right! This has to work." Gravel voice sounded nervous. 

"Don't be mad if it doesn't go right." The girl said. "We've only had three months."

I felt a shiver run down my body, and I tensed waiting for another needle. One of them moved around to where they'd lay the other person. I felt the person tense like I did and heard the hiss of an injection gun. Next came pandemonium.

The person next to me screamed, along with the female doctor. Vibrations were coming from all around; the room was literally shaking. I heard what sounded like something ricocheting of the ceiling. Curiosity getting the better of me, I unconsciously opened my eyes to see what was going on.

"Now we've got two of them!" The girl could barley be heard over the noise.

"Close your eyes!" Gravel yelled loudly. "Close your damned eyes!"

I became immediately aware of what I was doing and closed my eyes. Apparently the person next to me decided to do the same because all of the vibration and noise stopped. Soft hands slid over my face and thankfully I felt the familiar cool of my glasses covering my eyes. I opened my eyes immediately to see who it was next to me.

I caught site of the doctors first. The gravely voiced one was a middle-aged guy with graying and balding hair. He was tall but stood hunched over. The cigar hanging on the side of his lip told me all I needed to know about his voice. The girl was blond; her hair was back in a sever bun. The graying doctor was taller than her, but she stood straight. She wore glasses that pointed at the side, adding more to her strict look. She reminded me a lot of 7 of 9 from Star Trek.

It was hard to turn my head, as I was still strapped down. Oh well, it was damn lucky for those doctors that they hadn't undone the straps. When I saw who was strapped next to me I had to do several double takes. No, it wasn't Amori, I wouldn't have been as angry as I was if it had been her. Over the years I've learned not to worry too much about Amori, she can pretty much take care of herself. Amori wouldn't have cried in a situation like this, she wouldn't have curled up into a ball, but then, Amori isn't an eight-year-old little boy.

"What the hell…" I muttered quietly, looking at the boy in front of me. He was still crying, curled in a ball on his bed. They'd unstraped him, while setting a pair of glasses like mine on his face. The kids black tousled hair was falling in his eyes as he cried, making him look even more helpless.

"Unstrap the other one." The old man made a vague gesture towards me. The woman looked at me and suddenly her strict demeanor dropped. She looked positively scared out of her mind. I guess my glare really is as bad as Amori says, and right now I was really angry. One look at that kid did it.

The woman eased forward tentatively and reached forward to undo the straps, but her look changed again. She started to look evil; Mystique evil. I thought for a second maybe it was her, but a strong feeling told me we defiantly weren't dealing with Mystique. Just some random loon. 

Brownie points for me. I didn't attack her as soon as my arms and legs were free. No, I waited a good twenty seconds until the silence became thick in the room. Then I jumped off the bed and tackled the woman. I'd have gone for the older man, but (a) he was to far away and (b) I didn't want to break his back or anything. 

I rolled with her on the ground until I pinned her down and I was looking down to her face. Not forgetting the doctor I grabbed her clipboard from her hands and threw it with perfect accuracy at his head. He moaned at the impact and slumped not yet unconscious to the floor. Though he was still conscious I wasn't too concerned.

"What the hell did you do?" I said almost growling. "And I want details."

"We discovered how to fuse DNA." She said hurriedly, encouraged by my raised fist. "So the government decided they wanted a super army. It's easiest to fuse it in children so we made sure to grab a bunch of kids when we took the mutants."

I raised an eyebrow. "Explain the DNA part."

Her breathing was speeding up. "Children with mutant parents have dormant mutant genes if we take DNA from other mutants and work with it a little, then inject it into the children they gain the powers of the blood donors and we…gain an army. We chose your blood for the test run because your powers are destructive."

"I fell out of a plane. That's why I have to wear ruby quartz. It's not genetic. Why is it happening to him?" I asked.

"That problem was easily corrected." A small smirk escaped. I looked back at the crying boy. If you looked carefully a tinge of purple was visible around his eyes, like he'd been beaten. I punched her. Hard. She deserved it.

"Let me get this straight." I said through gritted teeth. "You beat a kid who's, like, eight at the most, just to get a section of his brain to stop functioning. Then you strap him to a chair, blind fold him, again scaring him to no bounds, and then you inject him with my blood, so he now has my uncontrollable mutant abilities." I hit her again. "Lady, I have two things to say. Firstly, you'd better start thanking who ever pray to that you're not dealing with my cousin, 'cause she is a lot worse than I am. And, secondly…you need to rot in hell, along with the hunch back over there."

I gave her one last jab in the stomach before getting up. To my surprise she followed suit a few seconds later. She didn't attack or touch me though. She just watched me as I made my way over to the bed where the boy was. I didn't ask him any questions, I just picked him up. He attached himself to me tightly as if I were a lifeline. 

"He's coming back with me." I said simply. The woman doctor nodded and shrugged.

"That's the way it was planned. His parents aren't in this facility. They might not even be alive anymore." She laughed at the look on the boys face as she said it. "He's yours. Yours here, yours if you escape." She put a pleasant smile on her face and walked over to the older doctor. He managed to get up with her assistance but he looked tipsy. "Now then, I'll call a guard for you. They won't blindfold you any more no need. I want you and your mutant friends to try and escape. It'll be like cat and mouse, or cops and robbers. You try to leave, and then I catch all of you!

"Like a game. Won't it be fun? And if you mutants loose... you're mine, and I'll repeat my activities that Toby and I shared with all of you."

Oh we were _so_ outa this place!


	11. Escape

Chapter Eleven:

(A/n: Ok, just incase you were confused in the last chapter here's a message for you…everything will be explained! I would've given more detail about my crazy femme doc, but to be honest I don't know that much about her yet, except that she's from Europe and she's not the sharpest pencil in the box if you catch my drift.

Chapters should be coming out quickly now. My math teacher has left for surgery and we've got a sub who's supposed to be a language arts teacher, which means she won't be teaching us stuff and I'll get an hour a day to write in school. Yay! And of course the fact that I sit next to a guy named Remy is _very _encouraging. Anyhoo, Please read and review, TTFN!) 

"I don't care!" I practically yelled. "We're getting out! And if that's the only way. Then fine! We'll hold the food guys hostage. We've got the assets to do it, and I don't know why we didn't before!"

"Scott." Evan said evenly. He met my eyes. "You are not Denzel Washington, and we are not pulling a John Q. We are not holding anyone hostage. Do you understand me?"

"You weren't in that room with her." I lowered my voice. "Listen I don't know what else she did to him, but it wasn't good. She's friggin' crazy."

Our little group looked at each other. Evan, Alex, Remy, Rogue, Kurt, Lara, Kendra, a few others, and I were huddled in a corner in the back of the room. Toby was asleep at my feet along with a few other kids scattered around. After what I'd experienced in the med room the day before I ready to take a hostage and Remy, Rogue and Kurt were right behind me. Evan, Lara, Kendra, and two guys named Jake and Sean were opting for a route that would involve less injury.

Evan spoke again. "Scott I totally understand, and I know we have to get out. But we can't take hostages. Hostage situations usually end up having guns involved, and guns get people shot. People getting shot with out reliable medical facilities is bad!"

"He's right." Said Kendra. "A different way would be better. We could work on widening that sun roof."

"With out caving in 'de ceiling ma ami?" Gambit looked up at the sliver of sunlight coming into the room. "None to likely, y' t'ink? We got a half 'n hour 'till 'de lunch cart come t'rough. What are we gonna do hommes?"

"Fearless leader?" Lara said her first words. "You heard the man. What're we going to do? We'll follow you. We trust you."

I looked each of them in the eye before speaking. "I can't think of anything else that's gonna get us out of here faster other than taking some hostages. It won't really be like a hostage situation. We can knock 'em out or something. And we can do it today."

Everyone just nodded, and some smiled slightly. I instructed them to move all of the kids to the back of the room to keep them safer and they all left to do it. Evan stayed behind for a minute giving me a heavy sigh. If the situation were different I'd have been laughing. A serious Evan is just not something you see everyday, and you never see Evan giving a heavy, serious sigh.

Evan finally let out one last breath a shrugged. "Man, you're totally wiped, crazy, insane…all a' that, but if you think it'll get us outa here, I guess I'm down with it. Just don't let those kids get hurt." He paused, looking around thoughtfully.  "Ok, let's do it. I always have wanted to be Denzel."

~

"Ok, listen," Rogue was explaining slowly to the twenty something children huddled in the back of the room. "You have to stay back here. My friends and Ah are going to try to get us out of here and we're going to get you guys back to your parents. And if we can't find them, you'll come live with us in a really big house! Would you like that?"

The kids were all watching her with wide eyes, nodding with understanding. Funny, I'd never really imagined Rogue as a kid person. The description never seemed to fit her.

My own personal charge, Toby, was taking it well. He'd stuck to me until I gently handed him to Kendra who was helping to watch the kids. He'd blinked once or twice in confusion but hadn't said a word. That wasn't unusual, he barely spoke. Toby wasn't my kid, but I really was worried about him. I felt weirdly connected to him, not in a relative way (god knows I've found enough relatives in the past months), but there was a feeling that I'd known him before, and had protected him before. I didn't ask him any questions about his family, or what the whacko female doctor had exactly done to him, and Toby didn't volunteer any information. He'd asked one question after we got back from the med room, "Why'd she do that?" and I couldn't give him a real answer, 'cause I was still trying to figure that one out m'self. 

Kurt pulled me out of thought. He was tugging on my shirt (my eleven day old shirt, if I might add) with his three fingers trying to grab my attention. "Scott, Remy says we've got three minutes before ze guards come in."

"Ok," I said, still thinking about Toby. "Get your sister, and tell her to get those gloves off."

"Right." Kurt nodded and walked off to his task.

Remy and Evan were assembling troops by the door. Rogue positioned herself right at the door entrance so she could grab the guards as soon as they entered, knock them out, and them we could steal all the stuff they might be carrying that could help with our escape. There wasn't going to be any cat and mouse like little miss terror had claimed, we were making a quick, clean exit and we wouldn't be having to pleasure of returning.

Of all the people in the room Remy and I had the most forcibly destructive powers. There were people who had powers similar to Lance Alvers, and truthfully were more destructive but they didn't know how to use them to their advantage. Remy and I could control ours. Remy more so than me. I didn't have a visor, so to use my powers I had to do a squinting thing with my eyes. It wasn't as accurate, but the effect was the same. Since this was the case Remy and I had two teams. We'd go together but if the time came and we had to split up we would. For that reason each team had a telepath. Communication was important. There was one other team which Kendra and two to three girls had control over. Their job was to get the kids out safely. Kendra was an empath; she could feed people emotions. A good power to have if you were going to be dealing with scared children. Remy had some empathic abilities, so he and Kendra had a slight connection with each other. They'd know if either one was in trouble.

Rogue jumped suddenly at her position by the door. She mouthed 'food's here', and grinned wickedly, curving her hand in a grabbing position. The metal door hissed open and the guards walked in. Rogue waited for the door to close before pouncing. The guards never knew what hit them. She managed to grab al three of them at once and within seconds they'd collapsed.

Here's where I got to play army general. "Ok, let's move. Out!" Kendra's group herded out kids while Lara, Evan and I dragged the bodies of the guard to the side of the room and felt them down for supplies. We retrieved mostly key cards, and regular keys that we took with out qualms. But each guard carried a gun, which caused some dispute before Lara discovered they contained sedative darts and not bullets. Remy took one for his team, as did I, then I gave one to Gwen, a girl going with Kendra.

When all the kids had gone (we'd sent them in the opposite direction of the crazy lady's office) we set off, one large mass of very angry and restless captives. Upon going out the door we made a direct right. There were cell doors lining the whole corridor. The doors had slots for the key cards so we set to work

It took awhile, but we managed to get everyone out of the thirteen cells. No one we knew was among their number. I didn't dwell on that as we moved along, climbing the stairs to the next level of cells. This floor had more rooms and was built almost like a maze, making it difficult to accomplish any thing. We scattered, hurrying to find cells.

I headed down a hall with two girls flanking my sides. There was only one cell door, which one girl, Cassandra, opened with one of the seven key cards she held. The door hissed open revealing a filled room of nervous looking people huddled together in various corners. There were no kids in this room, making our job a lot easier.

"Hey ya'll!" The second girl, Tami, shouted into the room. "Let's bust this joint! We're gettin' you outa here." Tami's from Jersey.

 As it had happened with all of the other cells, the inhabitant's eyes lit up with a sudden spark that hadn't been there during imprisonment. They all eagerly herded out of the room and went in the direction I pointed. 

The last two or three people were running out of the room, and I was getting ready to leave with Cassandra and Tami, but a loud shout came from behind. I ignored it and kept going down the hall to meet back with Remy, but then they yelled again, and I realized who it was.

"Scott!" The voice started to sound indignant. "Turn around you idiot!"

I whipped around. "A-Amori?" 

She literally attacked me, grabbing me into a smothering hug. I thought I was going to pass out, and when trying to escape a prison that is not a good thing. "'Mori?" I managed to gasp out, still in shock.

Amori responded by dragging me down the hall towards where the rest of my group was. "Oh my God!" she started while we ran together. "One of your little teams just busted my cell out. I had to find you!" Amori was breathing hard now, and her eyes were wide. "Some guy…Hayden, I think his name was, told me to tell you two things. First, some woman stalking the halls with armed guards is looking for you and some kid. Second Kurt found a way for us to get out of hear, but we've gotta get to the upper levels fast. As in six minutes fast! Kurt and Kitty are gonna blow this place sky high!"

"With what?" I was a little nervous to find out.

"There's some low level bombs in the deepest silo. The walls around it are just concrete. They should fall easily." Something told me that this plan was not a great one. Army silos in the middle of nowhere usually store more than _low_ powered bombs. But when I pointed this out to my adrenaline pumped cousin she just shrugged and responded, "so what they're probably just some sort of nuke." I try not to curse. This, at the moment, was an exceptionally good thing.

"Six minutes?" I asked, instead of using a log string of expletives.

"Uh huh." She answered as we rounded the corner to where Remy and I had our teams. "HEY PEOPLE! START MOVING UP!" Amori yelled as soon as she saw everyone. 

"You're crazy!" I told her for about the millionth time in her life. We ran with the stampede of people going up the narrow stone steps.

Amori shot me a devil may care smile. "So you've said. Scott, don't worry! We have six *BOOM!* *CRASH!* *SHATTER!* minutes…"Amori trailed off as the building creaked, and fell around us.

*~*


End file.
